“The F-35 global supply chain is a key enabler to success, and we’re restructuring and streamlining several contracts with key industry partners to provide the long-term stability that will allow them to make investments, improve efficiencies and optimise their performance. This is one of several actions we’re taking across the supply chain to improve capacity, reduce costs and enhance supply availability.”

“Earlier this month, the US stopped the delivery of F-35 equipment to Turkey in light of Ankara’s reluctance to scrap its deal to buy S-400 missile system from Russia.”

Lockheed has also signed MRAs for contracts with 12 separate suppliers, including Honeywell, GE and Eaton to enhance repair capacity and speed.

The company has stated that multi-year contracts are beneficial, citing a PBL contract awarded to BAE Systems for the Electronic Warfare subsystem in 2017 as an example. It is helping deliver a 25% improvement in the system’s availability throughout global operations.

The F-35 enterprise aims to achieve 80% mission capable rates in the near term. In addition, the company is targeting a $25,000 cost per flight hour (CPFH) by 2025.

In order to realise these goals, the enterprise is optimising resources across the fleet and leveraging data from flight hours.

The F-35 is an advanced fighter jet equipped with stealth technology, advanced sensors, supersonic speed, weapons capacity and superior range. The aircraft is known for its ability to collect, analyse and share data.

Earlier this month, the US stopped the delivery of F-35 equipment to Turkey in light of Ankara’s reluctance to scrap its deal to buy S-400 missile system from Russia.

Turkey is one of the partner nations of the global F-35 programme and supplies certain components for the jet.